Michael
Jackson- Real-lovely-honest man-spiritual man-that we All Loved~Love
♥ *pEACE •∞¸.•´¸.•♪ ஜ۩۞۩ஜ¸.•´¸.•
•∞ ♥ *pEACE
When
I first found this speech of Michael Jackson's - Heal the Kids. I was
truly touched by his honesty, lovely spirit, and true-care for
children in his speech. I have always loved his music as a child -
and grew with his music as an adult too. During his life he was
always been introverted . Mainly because of the life he was given by
his stage father, at a very early age 5yearsold.. So when I found
this speech that he did at Oxford University in 2001 [ just 10 short
years before we lost this great man of music, dance, and humanitarian
] I had to state my opinion on this and show the speech too.
I
believe after reading the speech, Michael was passionate about his
Music, Dancing, his children and all the children of the world plus
helping our earth. He also wanted to get back a little bit of that
childhood that he never had and so disparity wanted. In some of the
scenes I've seen in his bio he's talked about seeing boys his age
playing ball [baseball] and wanted to play. Have friends, but
everytime he said sometime about that; he would get hit or yelled at.
He was told to get back to practicing to music.. I truly believe that
he was abused as a child and onto as a teenager. I may get so flake
from this statement, but I do believe it is true that Michael was an
abused child and by his father throughout his childhood and into his
teenage years.. This is why he as a adult wanted to help children
that have been abused and also get a piece of his childhood back in
his adult hood ..
People
always though he was weird or odd. But think about it.. Think about
what he had to endure as a child and on to an adult.. So he had
billions, but he was so alone. He could go anywhere without being
mobbed, and there's the newspapers telling stories about him..
But
most of all the boldness of his belief's in what childhood should be
and how our country has lost what it means to be a child in this
country. What it means to be a parent in this country... Today's
generation of children are loosing their childhood to fast. And are
pushed in school and at home Michael Say's in his speech. I believe
in what he is saying is true.. He is a smart man.. this speech
opened my eyes.. I hope it does the same for you!
I
know I will get either good comments or completely bad because this
is a hot topic.. but you have to take a chance in life and state your
opinion or life wouldn't be interesting.. Wendy 2011
Oxford
University, March 2001 by Michael Jackson
Heal
The Kids:
Thank
you, than you dear friends, form the bottom of my heart, for such a
loving and spirited welcome, and thank you, Mr. President, for your
kind invitation to me which I am so honored to accept. I also want to
express a special thanks to you Shmuley, who for 11 years served as
Rabbi here at Oxford. You and I have been working so hard to form
Heal the Kids, as well as writing our book about childlike qualities,
and in all of our efforts you have been such a supportive and loving
friend. And I would also like to thank Toba Friedman, our director of
operations at Heal the KIds, who is returning to night to the alma
mater where she served as a Marshall scholar, as wee as Marilyn
Piels, another central member of our Heal the Kids team.
I
am humbled to be lecturing in a place that has previously been filled
by such notable figures as Mother Theresa, Albert Einstein, Ronald
Reagan, Robert Kennedy and Malcolm X. I've even heard that Kermit the
Frog has made an appearance here, and I've always felt a kinship with
Kermit's message that it's not easy being green. I'm sure he didn't
find it any easier being up here than I do!
As
I looked around Oxford today, I couldn't help but be aware of the
majesty and grandeur of this great institution, not to mention the
brilliance of the great and gifted minds that have roamed these
streets for centuries. The walls of Oxford have not only housed the
greatest philosophical and scientific geniuses - they have also
ushered forth some of the most cherished creators of children's
literature, form J. R. R Tolkien to CS Lewis. Today I was allowed to
hobble
into
the dining hall in Christ Church to see Lewis Carroll's Alice in
Wonderland immortalized in the stained glass windows. And even one of
my own fellow Americans, the beloved Dr Seuss graced these halls and
then went on to leave his mark on the imaginations of millions of
children throughout the world.
I
suppose I should start by listing my qualifications to speak before
you this evening. Friends, I do not claim to have the academic
expertise of other speakers who have addressed this hall, just as
they could lay little claim at being adept at the moonwalk- and you
know, Einstein in particular was really TERRIBLE at that.
But
I do have a claim to having experienced more places and cultures than
most people will ever see. Human knowledge consists not only of
libraries of parchment and ink - it is also comprised of the volumes
of knowledge that are written on the human heart, chiseled on the
human soul, and engraved on the human psyche. And friends, I have
encountered so much in this relatively short life of mine that I
still cannot believe I am only 42. I often tell Shmuley that in soul
years I'm sure that I'm at least 80 - and tonight I even walk like
I'm 80! So please harken to my message, because what i have to tell
you tonight can bring healing to humanity and healing to our planet.
Through
the grace of God, I have been fortunate to have achieved many of my
artistic and professional aspirations realized early in my lifetime.
But these, friends are accomplishments, and accomplishments alone are
not synonymous with who I am. Indeed, the cheery five-year-old- who
belted out Rockin' Robin and Ben to adoring crowds was not indicative
of the boy behind the smile.
Tonight,
I come before you less as an icon of pop [ whatever that means
anyway], and more as an icon of a generation, a generation that no
longer knows what it means to be children.
All
of us are product of our childhood, But i am the product of a lack of
a childhood, an absence of that precious and wondrous age when we
frolic playfully without a care in the world, basking in the
adoration of parents and relatives, where our biggest concern is
studying for that big spelling test come Monday morning.
Those
of you who are familiar with the Jackson Five know that I began
performing at the tender age of five and that ever since then, I
haven't stopped dancing or singing. But while performing and making
music undoubtedly remain as some of my greatest joys, when I was
young I wanted more than anything else to be a typical little boy. I
wanted to build tree houses, have water balloon fights, and play hide
and seek with my friends. But fate had it otherwise and all i could
do was envy the laughter and playtime that seemed to be going on all
around me.
There
was no respite from my professional life. But on Sundays I would go
Pioneering, the term used for the missionary work that Jehovah 's
Witnesses do. And it was then that i was able to see the magic of
other peoples childhoods.
Since
I was already a celebrity, I would have to don a disguise of fat
suit, beard and glasses and we would spend the day in the suburbs of
Southern California, going door-to -door or making the rounds of
shopping malls, distributing our Watchtower magazine . I loved to set
foot in all those regular suburban houses and catch sight of the shag
rugs and La - Z Boy armchairs with kids playing Monopoly and grandmas
baby-sitting and all those wonderful,
ordinary
and starry scenes of everyday life. Many, I know, would argue that
these things seem like no big deal. But to me they were mesmerizing.
I
used to think that I was unique in feeling that I was without a
childhood. I believed that indeed there were only a handful with whom
I could share those feelings. When I recently met with Shirley Temple
Black, The great child star of the 1930s and 40s, we said nothing to
each other at first, we simply cried
together,
for she could share a pain with me that only others like my close
friends Elizabeth Taylor and McCauley Culkin know .
I
do not tell you this to gain your sympathy but to impress upon you my
first important point:
It
is not just Hollywood child stars that, have suffered from a
non-existent childhood. Today, it's a universal calamity, a global
catastrophe. Childhood has become the great casualty of modern -day
living. All around us we are producing scores of kids who have not
had the joy, who have not been accorded the right,
who
have not been allowed the freedom, or knowing what it's like to be a
kid.
Today
children are constantly encouraged to grow up faster as if this
period known as childhood is a burdensome stage, to be endured and
ushered through, as swiftly as possible.
And
on that subject I am certainly one of the world's greatest experts.
Ours
is a generation that has witnessed the abrogation of the parent-child
covenant. Psychologists are publishing libraries of books detailing
the destructive effects of denying one's children the unconditional
love that is so necessary to the healthy development of their minds
and character. And because of all the neglect, too many of our kids
have, essentially, to raise themselves. They are growing more distant
from their parents, grandparents and other family members, as all
around us the indestructible bond that once glued together the
generations, unravels.
This
violation has bred a new generation, Generation O let us call it,
that has now picked up the torch form Generation X. The O stands for
a generation that has everything on the outside- wealth, success,
fancy clothing and fancy cars, but an aching emptiness on the inside.
That cavity in our chests, that barrenness at our core, that void in
our centre is the place where the heart once beat and love once
occupied.
And
it's not just the kids who are suffering. It's the parents as well.
For the more we cultivate little-adults in kid's-bodies, the more
removed we ourselves become from our own child- like qualities, and
there is so much about being a child that is worth retaining in adult
life.
Love,
ladies and gentlemen, is the human family's most precious legacy, its
richest bequest, its golden inheritance. And it is a treasure that is
handed down from one generation to another. Previous ages may not
have had the wealth we enjoy. Their houses may have lacked
electricity and they squeezed their many kids into small homes
without central heating. But those homes had no darkness, nor were
they cold. They were lit bright with the glow of love and they were
warmed snugly by the very heat of the human heart. Parents
undistracted by the lust for luxury and status, accorded their
children primacy in their lives.
As
you all know ,our two countries broke from each other over what
Thomas Jefferson referred to as "certain inalienable rights".
And while we Americans and British might dispute the justice of his
claims, what has never been in dispute is that children have certain
inalienable rights, and the gradual erosion of those rights has led
to scores of children worldwide being denied the joys and security of
childhood.
I
would therefore like to propose tonight that we install in every home
a Children's Universal Bill of Rights, the tenets of which are:
1.
The right to be loved without having to earn it.
2.
The right to be protected, without having to deserve it.
3.
The right to feel valuable , even if you came into the world with
nothing.
4.
The right to be listened to without having to be interesting.
5.
The right to be read a bedtime story, without having to compete with
the evening news
6.
The right to an education without having to dodge bullets at schools
7.
The right to be though of as adorable -{ even if you have a face that
only a mother could love]
Friends,
the foundation of all human knowledge, the beginning of human
consciousness must be that each and every one of us is and object of
love. Before you know if you have red hair or brown , before you know
if you are black or white, before you know of what religion you are a
part you have to know that you are loved.
About
twelve years ago, when I was just about to start my Bad tour, a
little boy came with his parents to visit me at home in California.
He was dying of cancer and he told me how much he loved my music and
me. His parents told me that he wasn't going to live, that any day he
could just go, and I said to him; " Look, I am going to be
coming to your town in Kansas to open my tour in three months, I want
you to come to the show. I am going to give you this jacket that I
wore in one of my videos." His eyes lit up and he said; "You
are gonna Give it to me?" I said "Yeah, but you have to
promise that you will wear it to the show." I was trying to make
him hold on. I said: "When you come to the show I want to see
you in this jacket and in this glove" and I gave him one of my
rhinestone gloves- and I never usually give the rhinestone gloves
away. And he was just in heaven. `
But
maybe he was too close to heaven, because when I came to his town, he
had already
died,
and they had buried him in the glove and jacket . He was just 10
years old. God knows, I know, that he tried his best to hold on. But
at least when he died, he knew that he was loved, not only by his
parents, but even by me a near stranger, I also loved him. And with
all of that love he knew that he didn't come into this world alone,
and he certainly didn't leave it alone.
If
you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world
knowing the same , then everything that happens in-between can be
dealt with. A professor may degrade you, but you will not feel
degraded, a boss may crush you , but you will not be crushed, a
corporate gladiator might vanquish you, but you will still triumph.
How could any of them truly prevail in pulling you down? For you know
that you are an object worthy of love . The rest is just packaging.
But
if you don't have that memory of being loved, you are condemned to
search the world for something to fill you up. But no matter how much
money you make or how famous you become, you will still feel empty.
What you are really searching for is unconditional love, unqualified
acceptance. And that was the one thing that was denied to you at
birth.
Friends
, let me paint a picture for you. Here is a typical day in America
-six youths under the age of 20 will commit suicide, 12 children
under the age of 20 will die from firearms-
remember
this is a DAY, not a year - 399 kids will be arrested for drug
abused, 1,352 babies will be born to teen mothers. This is happening
in one of the richest , most developed countries in the history of
the world- USA.
Yes,
in my country there is an epidemic of violence that parallels no
other industrialised nation. These are the ways young people in
America express their hurl and their anger. but don't think that
there is not the same pain and anguish among their counterpart's in
the United Kingdom. Studies in this country show that every single
hour, three teenagers in the UK inflict harm upon themselves, often
by cutting or burning their bodies or taking an overdose. This is how
they have chosen to cope with the pain of neglect and emotional
agony.
In
Britain, as many as 20% of families will only sit down and have
dinner together once a year. Once a year! And what about the time -
honoured tradition of reading your kid a bedtime story? Research from
the 1980s showed that children who are read to, had far greater
literacy and significantly outperformed their peers at school. And
yet less than 33% of British children ages two to eight have a
regular bedtime story read to them. You may not think much of that
until you take into account that 75% of their parents DID have that
bedtime story when they were that age.
Clearly
, we do not have to ask ourselves where all of this pain, anger and
violent behaviour comes from. It is self- evident that children are
thundering against the neglect , quaking against the indifference and
crying out just to be noticed. The various child protection agencies
in the US say that millions of children are victims of maltreatment
in the form of neglect, in the average year. Yes, neglect. In reach
homes, privileged homes, wired to the hilt with every electronic
gadget. Homes where parents come home, but they're not really home,
because their heads are still at the office. And their kids? Well,
their kids just make do with whatever emotional crumbs they get. And
you don't get much from endless TV, computer games and videos.
These
hard, cold numbers which for me, wrench the soul and shake the
spirit, should indicate to you why I have devoted so much of my time
and resources into making our new Heal the KIds initiative a colossal
success.
Our
goal is simple - to recreat the parent/child bond, renew its promise
and light the way forward for all the beautiful children who are
destined one day to walk this earth.
But
since this is my first public lecture, and you have so warmly
welcomed me into your hearts, I feel that I want to tell you more. We
each have our own story, and in that sense statistics can become
personal.
They
say that parenting is linke dancing. You take one step, your child
takes another. I have discovered that getting parents to re-dedicate
themselves to their children is only half the story. The other half
is preparing the children to re-accept their parents..
When
I was very young I remember that we had this crazy mutt of a dog
named " black girl," a mix of wolf and retriever. Not only
wasn't she much of a guard dog, she was such a scared and nervous
thing that it is a wonder she did not pass out every time a truck
rumbled by or a thunderstorm swept through Indiana. My Sister Janet
and I gave that dog so much love, but we never really won back the
sense of trust that had been stolen from her by her previous owner,
We knew he used to beat her. We didn't know with what. But whatever
it was, it was enough to suck the spirit right out of that dog.
A
lot of kids today are hurt puppies who have weaned themselves off the
need for love. They couldn't care less about their parents. Left to
their own devices, they cherish their independence. They have move on
and have left their parents behind.
Then
there are the far worse case of children who harbour animosity and
resentment toward their parents, so that any overture that their
parents might undertake world be thrown forcefully back in their
face.
Tonight,
I don't want any of us to make this mistake. Tat's why I'm calling
upon all the world's children - beginning with all of us here
tonight- to forgive our parents, if we felt neglected.
Forgive
them and teach them how to love again.
You
probably weren't suprised to hear that I did not have an idyllic
childhood. The strain and tension that exists in my relationship with
my own father is well documented. My father is a tough man and he
pushed my brothers and me hard, from the earliest age, to be the best
preformers we could be.
He
had great difficulty showing affection. He never really told me he
loved me. And he never really complimented me either. If i did a
great show, he would tell me it was a good show. And if i did an OK
show, he told me it was a lousy show.
He
seemed intent, above all else, on making us a commercial success. And
at that he was more than adept. My father was a managerial genius and
my brothers and i owe our professional success, in no small measure,
to the forceful way that he pushed us. he trained me as a showman and
under his guidance I couldn't miss a step.
But
what i really wanted was a DaD. I wanted a father who showed me love.
And my father never did that. He never said i love you while looking
me straight in the eye, he never played a game with me. He never gave
me a piggyback ride, he never threw a pillow at me, or a water
balloon.
But
i remember once when I was about 4 years old, there was a little
carnival and he picked me up and put me on a pony. It was a tiny
gesture, probably something he forgot five minutes later. but because
of that moment i have this special place in my heart for him. Because
that's how kids are, the little things mean so much to them and for
me, that one moment meant everything. I only experienced it that one
time, but it made me feel really good, about him and the world.
But
now I am a father myself, and one day i was thinking about my own
children, Prince and Paris and how i wanted them to think of me when
they grow up. To be sure, I would like them to remember how I always
wanted them with me wherever i went, how i always tried to put them
before everything else. But there are also challenges in their lives.
Because my kids are stalked by paparazzi, they can't always go to a
park or a movie with me.
So
what if they grow older and resent me, and how my choices impacted
their youth? Why weren't we given an average childhood like all the
other kids, they might ask? And at that moment i pray that my
children will give me the benefit of the doubt. That they will say to
themselves. "Our daddy did the best he could, given the unique
circumstances that he face. He may not have been perfect, but he was
a warm and decent man, who tried to give us all the love in the
world."
I
hope that they will always focus on the positive things, on the
sacrifices i willingly made for them, and not criticise the things
they had to give up or the errors I've made, and will certainly
continue to make, in raising them. For we have all been someone's
child, and we know that despit the very best of plans and efforts,
mistakes will always occur. That's just being human.
And
when I think about this, of how i hope that my children will not
judge me unkindly, and will forgive my shortcomings, I am forced to
think of my own father and despite my earlier denials, I am forced to
admit that me must have love me. He did love me, and I know that.
There
were little things that showed it. When I was a kid I had a real
sweet tooth - we all did. My favorite food was glazed doughnuts and
my father knew that So every few weeks i would come downstairs in the
morning and there on the kitchen counter was a bag of glazed
doughnuts - no note, no explanation - just the doughnuts. It was like
Santa Claus.
Sometimes
I would think about staying up late at night, so i could see him
leave them there, but just like with Santa Claus, I didn't want to
ruin the magic for fear that he would never do it again. My father
had to leave them secretly at night, so as no one might catch him
with his guard down. He was scared of human emotion, he didn't
understand it or know how to deal with it. But he did know
doughnuts...
And
when i allow the floodgates to open up, there are other memories that
come rushing back, Memories of other tiny gestures, however
imperfect, that showed that he did what he could. So tonight, rather
than focusing on what my father didn't do,I want to focus on all the
things he did do and on his own personal challenges. I want to stop
judging him.
I
have started reflecting on the fact that my father grew up in the
South, in a very poor family. He came of age during the Depression
and his own father, who struggled to feed his children, showed little
affection towards his family and raised my father and his siblings
with an iron fist. Who could have imagined what it was like to grow
up a poor black man in the South, robbed of dignity, bereft of hope,
struggling to become a man in a world that saw my father as
subordinate. I was the first black artist to play on MTV and I
remember how big a deal it was even then. And that was in the 80s!
My
father moved to Indiana and had a large family of his own, working
long hours in the steel mill, work that kills, the lungs and humbles
the spirit. all to support his family. Is it any wonder that he found
it difficult to expose his feelings? Is it any mystery that he
hardened his heart, that he raised the emotional ramparts? And most
of all, is it any wonder why he pushed his sons so hard to succeed as
performers, so that they could be saved from what he dnew to be a
life of indignity and poverty?
I
have begun to see that even my father's harshness was a kind of love,
an imperfect love, to be sure, but love nonetheless. He pushed me
because he loved me. Because he wanted no man ever to look down at
his offspring.
And
now with time, rather than bitterness, I feel blessing. In the place
of anger, I have found absolution. And in the place of revenge i have
found reconciliation. And my initial fury has slowly given way to
forgiveness....
Almost
a decade ago, I founded a charity called HEAL THE WORLD. The title
was something i felt insed me . Little did i know , as Shmuley later
pointed ou, that those two words form the corerstone of Old Testament
prophecy. Do I really believe that we can heal this world, that is
riddled with war and genocide, even today? And do I really think that
we can heal our children, the same children who can enter their
schools with guns and hatred and shoot down their classmates, like
they did at Columbine? Or children who can beat a defenseless toddler
to death, like the tragic storie of Jamie Buger? Of course i do, or I
wouldn't be here tonight.
But
it all begins with forgiveness, because to heal the world, we first
have to heal ourselves. And to heal the kids, we first have to heal
the child within, each and every one of us. As an adult, and as a
parent, I realize that I cannot be a whole being, nor a parent
capable of unconditional love, until I put to rest the ghost of my
own childhood.
And
that's what I'm asking all of us to do tonight. Live up to the fifth
of the Ten Commandments Honour your parents by not judging them. Give
them the benefit of the doubt.
That
is why I want to forgive my father and to stop judging him. I want to
forgive my father, because I want a father, and this is the only one
that I've got. I want the weight of my past lifted from my shoulders
and I want to be free to step into a new relationship with my father,
for the rest of my life, unhindered by the goblins of the past.
In
a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world
filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled
with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with
distrust, we must still dare to believe.
To
all of you tonight who feel let down by your parents, I ask you to
let down your disappointment. To all of you tonight who feel cheated
by your fathers or mothers, I ask you not to cheat yourself further.
And to all of you who wish to push your parents away, I ask you to
extend you hand to them instead. I am asking you , I am asking
myself, to give our parents the gift of unconditional love, so that
they too may learn how to love from us, their children. So that love
will finally be restored to a desolate and lonely world.
Shmuley
once mentioned to me an ancient Biblical prophecy which says that a
new world and a new time would come, when, " the hearts of the
parents would be restored through the hearts of their children."
My friends, we are that world, we are those children.
Mahatma
Gandhi said: "The weak can never forgive . Forgiveness is the
attribute of the strong." Tonight be strong. Beyond being
strong, rise to the greatest challenge of all - to restore that
broken covenat. We must all overcome whatever crippling effects our
childhoods may have had on our lives and in the words of Jesse
Jackson, "forgive each other, redeem each other and move on.
This
call for forgiveness may not result in Oprah moments the world over,
with thousands of children making up with their parents, but it will
at least be a start, and we'll all be so much happier as a result.
And
so ladies and gentleman, I conclude my remarks tonight with faith,
joy and excitement.
From
this day forward, may a new song be heard.
Let
that new song be the sound of children laughing.
Let
that song be the sound of children playing.
Let
that song be the sound of children singing.
Let
that song be the sound of parent listening.
Together
, let us create a symphony of hearts, marveling at the miracle of our
children and basking in the beauty of love.
Let
us heal the world and blight its pain.
And
may we all make beautiful music together.
God
bless you, and I love you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HEAL
THE WORLD
MICHAEL
JACKSON
SET-UP
THE HEAL THE WORLD FOUNDATION IN 1992
THE
FOUNDATION FOCUSES ON CHILDREN AIMING FOR THEIR SAFETY AND HEALTHY
DEVELOPMENT TO BE THE WORLD'S PROIORITY.
IT
AIMS TO MAKE THE WORLD AWARE OF THE RIGHTS AND NEEDS OF ALL CHILDREN
AROUND THE WORLD, ALSO TO HELP IMPROVE THE WORLD WE LIVE IN.. WITHOUT
VIOLENCE AND FREE OF DISEASES. FOR MORE INFO. AT HEAL THE WORLD'S
WEBSITE AT:
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